U.S. Rep. Gary Peters considered frontrunner for Levin's Senate seat

U.S. Rep. Gary Peters may have instantly moved into frontrunner status for the Michigan Senate seat being vacated by longtime incumbent Carl Levin as the Bloomfield Township Democrat has apparently benefited from 24 hours of encouragement from other party stalwarts to make a run in 2014.

Numerous other potential candidates have been mentioned since Levin announced late Thursday that he was stepping down after six terms, but some key potential candidates have already said they will not run for the open seat.

Republican Rep. Candice Miller and 2012 GOP Senate candidate Clark Durant declined, as did Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel, a Democrat. State Attorney General Bill Schuette, a longtime Republican official, took himself out of the running within hours of Levin’s announcement.

Peters, first elected to Congress in 2008, has been labeled a leading Democratic contender for governor in 2014 but he made it clear on Friday that a bid for Senate is his preference.

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“I’m seriously considering it. I’ve definitely been making some calls and talking to folks,” said the former state legislator. “Since Carl announced (his retirement), the phone has been pretty much ringing off the hook.”

As for the prominent mentions of Peters as a favorite to challenge Republican Gov. Rick Snyder in the ’14 elections, Peters responded: “I said I’d never close any doors but that’s not an office I’ve given much thought to.”

Other Democrats mentioned for the open Senate seat are former governor Jennifer Granholm and former congressman Mark Schauer of Battle Creek.

Hackel, who quieted speculation in January by announcing that he won’t make a bid for governor, said that he also doesn’t see 2013 as the right time to take on the “daunting challenge” of running for Senate.

“I’ve only been in this job for two years and I am much more at ease with the transition from sheriff to county executive. And we have a lot of things going on,” said the Macomb Township Democrat.

On the GOP side, those getting a bit of buzz include: Reps. Justin Amash of western Michigan and Mike Rogers of Brighton, former state attorney general Mike Cox, and Lt. Gov. Brian Calley.

Former Republican Secretary of State Terri Lynn, who suddenly became very active online in recent weeks, told The Associated Press on Friday that she’s considering running.

Though polls have consistently shown Miller as one of the Michigan Republican Party’s strongest candidates for governor or senator, the congresswoman is staying in the House.

Miller put out this statement:

“Since Senator Levin’s announcement I have heard from many friends and supporters inquiring about my interest in the U.S. Senate seat. While I am grateful for the interest people have shown, I will not be a candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2014. It is my sincere honor to serve the people of Michigan’s 10th District in the United States House of Representatives and in 2014 it is my intention to seek their support for re-election. We are all so blessed to live in this magnificent, beautiful and special place called Michigan and I look forward to continuing to work with every Michiganian to move our great state forward.”

Levin’s brother, Rep. Sander Levin, a Royal Oak Democrat who represents most of Macomb County, said his eye is on re-election in 2014 when he will be 83 years old.

“Carl is determined to focus on the critical issues confronting our state and nation for the next two years as a senator rather than a candidate. I’m focused on the issues before the Ways and Means Committee and on taking back the House,” Levin said. “I am planning to run again.”

Dennis Lennox, a Republican activist from mid-Michigan and a Mount Pleasant Morning Sun columnist, said that he is not ruling out a Schuette candidacy despite the statement issued by the AG’s spokesman: “Bill will continue on serving the citizens of Michigan as their attorney general.”

“He could still run,” Lennox said, downplaying the fact that the GOP has not won a Michigan Senate seat since 1994. “Remember, Pete Hoekstra initially declined to run for Senate in 2012. Schuette is the only one who can avoid a nasty primary.”

In three separate surveys of the approximately 2,000 delegates to last month’s Republican state convention, Schuette was the favorite in the surveys, including one that Lennox conducted on Thursday night.

Thursday night’s survey, with a response rate equivalent to 10 percent of the delegates, had Schuette winning a head-to-head contest against libertarian-leaning Amash with a plurality of 43 percent, compared to 33 percent for the congressman from Cascade Township. Yet, a significant 24 percent of respondents wanted neither Amash nor Schuette.

Meanwhile, Peters said that among those giving him encouragement is the new Michigan Democratic Party chairman, Lon Johnson.

“He certainly is not taking sides but he knows that I have a track record in elections and that I am battle-tested,” said Peters, who represents a newly drawn House district that spans from the Detroit riverfront to Southfield and up to the Pontiac area.

Peters defeated longtime GOP congressman Joe Knollenberg in 2008 to become a House freshman and he survived a spirited challenge in 2010 even as Snyder won Peters’ district by 26 percentage points. In 2002, the former stock broker lost a statewide bid for attorney general to Cox by 5,200 votes out of more than 3 million cast.